Full fashioned hosiery



June 7,1938. V J M, BOTTS- i 2,119,663

FULL FASHIONED HOSIERY Filed Jly l5, 1936 INVENroR,

ATTORN Patented June 7, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

2,119,663 FULL FSHIONED HOSIERY John M. Botts, Jenkintown, Pa. Application July 15, 1936, Serial No.' 90,634

8 Claims. (Cl. 615-172) This invention relates to full-fashioned hosiery in which the uppermost portion, instead of being constituted by a welt, of the customarytype, having two layers of fabric, as in the ordinary type of full-fashioned hosiery, is of single layer construction, and coordinately therewith it relates to a method of manufacturing such hosiery.'

While my invention has been disclosed in relation to its application to fuit-fashioned hosiery,

lo it is to be understood that it may have other applications.

In the manufacture of full-fashioned stockings having single layer top portions, corresponding to the double layer welt portion of the ordinary stocking, it is customary to knit the top portions of silk, as it has been found that where the tops are made of cotton, although this is desirable from the standpoint of reducing the manufacturing cost, the product is not attractive,

because of the curling or crinkling of the edge portions of the stocking tops. This curling tend- In accordance with the disclosure of said patent a section-of fabric is rst knitted on a fiat-bed machine,` the yarn for this section being of low cost, such as cotton, for example. Thereafter the yarn is changed to a finish thread of silk,

artificial silk or the like, to knit a section that is to constitute the top portion of the stocking,

. whereas the section first knitted is a"raveloff section intended eventually to be removed from the iinishedv stocking.

40 The first course or courses`of the finish thread section are knitted of theravelproof or selflocking type, such as customarily termed picot loops, so that when the ravel-01T section is removed the upper end of the stocking willbe `defined by these picot loops.

In order to remove the'ravel-oif section, it isv If it is attempted to knit the top portion of the stocking proper of cotton, it is found that, even when a ravel-ofi' section is used, that the curlingr cannot be prevented. It is therefore among the objects vof my invention to provide a stocking construction in which a single layer top portion, corresponding to the welt portion, may be knitted of cotton throughout the greater portion thereof, thereby reducing its cost, while the curling or crinkling tendency is minimized, if not entirely eliminated.

It has already been stated that my aforementioned patent contemplated the separation of the ravel-oli' section by separating and pulling out the course that is adjacent to the picot loops intended to form the top of the finished stocking.

top.

This is particularly noticeable where the pullcourse is itself of rough thread, such as cotton.

It is therefore a further object of my invention y to provide a construction whereby the tendencyl of the stocking top to curl, when the pull thread is removed, is almost, if not entirely, overcome.

It is also an object of my invention to provide for an' eflcient method for manufacturing fully fashioned hosiery, that is particularly adapted for use in connection with stockings of the type herein disclosed.

For the attainment of these objects and such. .other-objects as may hereinafter appear or be pointed out, I have shown one embodiment'of my invention and indicated one manner of Dracticingthe same in the drawing, wherein:

knitting hosiery;

Figure 2is a view similar to Figure 1 showingl a succeeding stage of manufacture;

Figure 3 represents the upper portion of a, fullfashioned stocking blank such as used in making stockings in accordance with my invention; f

Figure 4 is a section on the-line 4--4 of Figure 1, Alooking in the direction ofv the arrows, and

Showing the single layer construction;

Figure 5 is a view in perspective of 'a finished stocking, showing the ravel course partly detached therefrom; and

Figure 6 is a detail view showing one manner of knitting the ravel-off section.

Cil

a fiat-bed machine, the initial loops maybe formed on a bar, such as shown at 2li in Figures 1 and 2, having needles 25 for receiving the loops,l this bar being similar to the well-known welt bar. n After the first loops have been formed the needle bar 24 may be hooked to a strap 28 that passes over the roller 3G and the fabric is thereby placed under tension. This hooking may be effected by a hook bar 32 carried by an auxiliary strap v34 joined to the strap 28 by the tension equalizing springs 3l.

Since the needle bar 2Q is very heavy, it is desirable to eliminate it as soon as possible. There fore as soon as sumcient fabric has been knitted to enable this to be done, the needlebar may be engaged directly with the fabric. This engagement should preferably take place at some distance inward from the initial loops, and the hooks 38 should be vof suflicient length to permit this, as well as being sulcient in number and distributed over a sufficient lateral width to prop-I erly tension the fabric. Thereafter the knitting proceeds in the customary manner. rIhis second stage is shown in Figure 2. It will be observed that it is atno time necessary to stop the operation of the machine. The advantage of this will be obvious to one skilled in the art who is familiar with the loss of time entailed when an expensive machine, such as a full-fashioned machine, must 40 be stopped to permit of manual transfer operations that are necessary in the manufacture of a section lll of cotton yarn, jloined to a narrow i order named, a series 'of ravel-off courses of cotb'ancli2, of silk yarn, which constitutes the exished stocking (as will appear on referring to sFlgure 5). The edge portion of the silken band i2 is finished of! by one or more courses of selflocking loops, such as the picot loops I4.

A revel-off section i6 is shown, as joined to the section l2, and-in order to effectively attain the objects of my invention, a few-courses i8 thereof serving to unite the section I6 and the picot loops i8 are made of a smooth thread such as silk or rayon, while the greater portion of the ravel-oi section i6 may be of the cheapest material available thatiwill be suitable for the purpose. It will therefore be seen that when that course ofthe ravel-off section, that is, interlooped with the picot loops, is removed, it will pull out with very little friction, and with very little disturbance of the silken band I2, such as might cause,l it to curl.

' The details of one such construction are shown by way oi example in Figure 6, in which are shown two courses, a, l), of cotton thread, constituting partv of the cotton portion of the raveloff section, and three courses of silk c, d, e, constituting the last courses of the ravel-o section.

75' It will of course be understood that the cotton treme upper portion or edge portion of the n-V portion of the raVei-oli section is not intended to be limited to two courses, as shown in this figure. For instance, in actual practice the ravel- `ofl section may amount to about twenty courses.

After the top portion lll of the stocking is completed, the knitting may be continued in the customary manner to form a complete full-fashioned stocking blank, which may then be seamed toform a full-fashioned stocking. The stocking may then be dyed and boarded, as already explained hereinabove. Thereafter, the ravel-of section i6 may be removed as by cutting through the coursesadjacent the picot loops and adjacent the seam, so as to separate the course passing' through the picot loops, which is then pulled out, as indicated in Figure 5. The pulling out is conveniently effected by inserting the point of a pair of scissors under the course to be pulled,

be obvious to those skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit thereof, and that I do not limit myself in relation to the scope of the disclosure herein other than as called for by the prior art.

Having thus described my invention and illustrated its use, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. As an intermediate product in the manufacture of full-fashioned hosiery, a blank comprising in the order named, a plurality of cotton ravel-off courses, a plurality of courses of loops of silk yarn at least one course of silk picot loops, and a plurality of silken courses constituting a narrow band, and said silken courses being followed by a portion of cotton yarn, and said lastnamed portion together with said silken` courses corresponding to the welt of an ordinary stocking, but being of single layer construction, and said portion corresponding to the 'welt being followed by a leg and a foot portion of silk.

2. An intermediate product in the manufacture of full-fashioned hosiery, comprising in the ton yarn, a. series of courses of silk yarn, at least one course of silk picot loops, and a series of silken courses and said silken courses being followed by a single layer portion of cotton yarn, and by a leg and a foot portion of silk.

'- 43. An intermediate product in the manufacture of full-fashioned hosiery, comprising in the order named, a series of ravel-off courses of cotton yarn, a series of revel-off courses of silk yarn,

a course of silk picot loops, and a plurality 'of form the top of the stocking,and said last-named series having its initial course, at its edge ad jacent said revel-off courses, constituted by a course of picot loops,- sad silken courses consti-- stituted by a course of picot loops, and said silken courses being followed by' a single layer portion z of cotton yarn correspondng to the welt of a stocking, and by a leg and a foot portion of silk.

6. In the manufacture of full-fashioned hosiery, an intermediate product comprising in the order named, a series of cotton ravel-off courses, a first series of courses of loops of silk yarn associated with said ravel-off courses, a second series of silken courses joined to said first series by revel-proof loops, and said second series of silken courses being followed by a single layer portion of cotton yarn, corresponding to a welt portion, and by a leg and a foot portion of silk.

7. An intermediate product in the manufacture of full-fashioned hosiery comprising, in the order named, a series of cotton ravel-off courses, a

series of courses of silk yarn associated with vsaid cotton ravel-of courses by an intermediate series of ravel-oif courses of silk yarn, ysaid series of courses of silk yarn having its initial course, at its edge adjacent said intermediate silk ravel-off courses, constituted by a course of pcot loops said courses of silk yarn constituting a band Vof a Width of the order of one-quarter of an inch, and said silken courses being followed b y a welt or top portion of cotton yarn, and by a leg and a foot portion of silk.

8. An intermediate product in the manufacture of full-fashioned hosiery comprising, in the order named, a series of cotton ravel-of courses of a number of the order of twenty courses, a number of courses of silk yarn, a course of picot loops v formed of silk yarn, and a series of courses of loops of silk yarn, constituting a band of a width of the order of one-quarter of an inch, followed 

